Bangert: Of Donald Trump’s top allies and other primary concerns

As candidates sell you on how they’d be President Trump’s best friend in Congress, 15 percent of Tippecanoe Co.'s voters will decide two key local offices

From left to right, former state Rep. Mike Braun, U.S. Rep. Luke Messer and U.S. Rep. Todd Rokita participate in the Republican U.S. Senate Debate at the Ramada Hotel and Conference Center in Fort Wayne, Ind., Monday, April 23, 2018.(Photo: Rachel Von/AP)

In 60 seconds, can you please describe the Donald Trump tribute tattoo you’d be willing to get right here, right now?

Facetious? Maybe.

But I’d lay odds that you’d get some sincere attempts out of Rep. Todd Rokita, Rep. Luke Messer and former state Rep. Mike Braun to craft a mental image of that primo #MAGA tat to get live on the stage.

Either way, I’ll leave that here, just in case Abdul Hakim-Shabazz, Indianapolis blogger and radio host, needs material when he moderates an April 30 head-to-head-to-head, sponsored by the Indiana Debate Commission.

Monday night’s debate, part of the Allen County Republican Party’s Lincoln Day Dinner, provided variations on that tattoo theme. Which is to say, Messer, Rokita and Braun continued to do what they’ve done the entire campaign, working to mark their campaigns with the ink of Trump’s agenda, while ripping at the seams of their opponent’s attempts to do the same.

The polling in a light midterm election – Tippecanoe County’s turnout likely will be in the 15 percent range of eligible voters after the May 8 primary day, according to Clerk Christa Coffey’s early, rough projections – must say the Trump-Trumpier-Trumpiest back-and-forth is the way to go.

So it’s easy to feel a bit stranded by a primary system pulling away, harder than ever, from the center. Why bother, right?

But in all those Senate race slams is one that highlights just how important primary day is – beyond who best wears the Make America Great Again hat.

Messer and Rokita have been relentless, going after Braun over that fact that he voted in Democratic primaries until 2012. They’ve pressed him, in person and in ads, about whether he voted for Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama in May 2008, a rare primary season when the Democratic presidential nomination was still in play that late in the campaign.

"We can't beat Joe Donnelly with another Joe Donnelly,” Messer said Monday night, standing just off Braun’s left shoulder. “Mike Braun is a lifelong Democrat pretending to be a Republican.”

Braun’s defense, as told recently to the Indianapolis Star: Where he lived in Debois County in southern Indiana, if Republicans wanted a say in local government, they needed to ask for a Democratic ballot in the primary.

Braun’s brother, Steve Braun – former state representative and head of Indiana Workforce Development – faces similar questions in his bid in a field of seven GOP candidates looking to replace Rokita in Congress in the 4th District.

Steve Braun voted in the Democratic primary in 2008 in the Republican stronghold of Boone County. He’s in a race that also banks heavily on the reflected glory of President Trump, two years after the president took a 19-point victory in Indiana. (That gap was more than 30 points in the 4th District.)

“In this race, we all are: protect the unborn, protect the Second Amendment, support President Trump,” Steve Braun said on a Tuesday morning campaign stop in downtown Lafayette, designed to meet early voters in Tippecanoe County.

“I really believe that this is such a conservative and Republican-voting district, it’s really about how can we drive these conservative principles,” Steve Braun said about the crowded GOP field. (Six Democrats are on the primary ballot in the 4th District.) “And then it comes down to: Who has the right experience sets, the best relationships to be able to do that?”

As for his 2008 vote, whether for Obama or Clinton? He chalked that up to conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh’s call to cross lines and vote in Democratic primaries to help prolong the contest.

“We all know the 2008 primary was unique,” Steve Braun said. “There wasn’t anything going on on the Republican side. ‘Operation Chaos’ was what was being pushed. So, that was the only time I voted in the Democratic primary. … It was something that was very prevalent at the time.”

Steve Braun’s explanation, vetted in state representative races that followed, is a bit shaky, at best – and exactly the sort of gamesmanship the parties say they don’t want in their primaries.

But Mike Braun’s situation, for any doubts it raises about this conservative bona fides, is one that should sound familiar to voters in Tippecanoe County, if only in reverse.

Most of us won’t be cornered by that sort of vote, because most of us will never run for public office high enough that partisan lines are drawn in marker.

But there are decades of proof that if you want a say in Tippecanoe County government, often the only chance to make a choice is in the Republican races.

This year is a prime example.

Tippecanoe County Democrats have made a concerted effort this year to fill more slots for county council, county commissioners and assorted county offices. Those names will be on May 8 primary ballots, but the real action won’t come until November.

In play, for real, are pointed races for sheriff – with Sheriff Barry Richard being challenged by sheriff’s Lt. Woody Ricks and West Lafayette Police Chief Jason Dombkowski – and prosecutor, where Earl McCoy is running against incumbent Pat Harrington. No Democrats have filed to be on the ballot in November.

In Indiana’s open primary rules, voters don’t have to be registered with a party. But they are allowed to vote on only one ticket, rather than bouncing from race to race. The act of asking for a ballot – and knowing the party chosen will be a public record – is enough intimidation to keep some voters from bothering with primaries.

But that gives away a decision that matters. And it’s a temptation to have candidates in local races, knowing that those in the middle are staying home, start pulling to the edges, too.

Early voting in Tippecanoe County picks up in earnest later this week, when voting booths go up daily in Greater Lafayette Pay Less Super Markets.

As much as candidates in the highest profile races try to sell the extremes, the choices down the ballot will help define Tippecanoe County for the next four years. Pull a ballot that gives you the maximum say. Make your mark.

WHAT YOU CAN DO: Indiana’s primary is May 8. A valid ID is required to vote. To check the candidates who will be on your ballot, as well as your registration status, ID requirements and where to vote early and on Election Day, go to indianavoters.in.gov.

EARLY VOTING IN TIPPECANOE COUNTY: Here are locations to vote before the May 8 primary.